G(Chat)Q&A with John Podhoretz, Editor of Commentary

Meet John Podhoretz, or as he is known in certain circles, "JPod": famous neocon, Twitter sarcast, film critic and world-weary watcher of the GOP presidential primary. We gchatted with Podhoretz—editor of Commentary and New York Post columnist—about whether the Santorum surge is real, if Newt could play a convincing Cary Grant, and the greatness of Jean Dujardin.

GQ: Hello! Thanks so much for doing this. Shall we begin?

John: sure

GQ: Great. So there was a new ppp poll out this weekend showing Santorum up nationally among Republican voters. Should we believe the hype?

Having said that, I can't say too much more because as I'm writing this I'm working on a column for the NY Post and I don't want to ruin it.

GQ: Fair enough. You once described Romney as Ralph Bellamy and Newt as a Cary Grant-ish type figure in this race. Is Newt still the exciting one?

John: Well, he's exciting, but as I said in that piece, in real life the Ralph Bellamys usually prevail over the Cary Grants...question now is whether Romney v. Santorum is Bellamy v. Bellamy.

GQ: Santorum could be another safe guy?

John: Reliable, square, solid, dull.

That's the Ralph Bellamy.

Or maybe I should say "a little dull." Or "dull by design."

Not the type to go off half-cocked.

Although he did as a senator.

GQ: Yeah. I was just going to say, I think the left (and probably Romney, too) will have a field day with every controversial soundbite from his days as senator. You think he's become more disciplined?

John: Well, that's what the next six weeks will help us judge.

He says he learned humility from his 2006 defeat, and that's very possible.

GQ: Are you excited to see him making this a race again?

John: This race has been exhausting, so I can't say I'm excited—the manic nature of these poll rises and falls has proved to be vertigo-inducing.

GQ: Maybe I'm putting too much stock in your Twitter feed, but you don't seem too enamored of this field of contenders.

John: No one is. No one ever has been.

GQ: But no one else is going to get in at this point, right? Who would you have really liked to see run?

John: I'm not in the endorsement business, and I didn't have a favorite horse. That said, if a couple of the oft-cited names had gotten in the race—Daniels, Ryan, Christie, Jindal—it wouldn't have been the clown show it was from June until November.

GQ: But—and you've written about this—it's easy to see why those guys wouldn't want to run, given the piles of cash the Obama campaign is raising to bury their GOP opponent.

John: If they had run, they would have run. They didn't run, so it doesn't matter whether they could have or should have. They're politicians and I assume all politicians want to be president so the fact they didn't run means they had good reason not to.

But it was the same in 1992 for the Democrats. Their theoretical A-team didn't get in either and there was much disappointment about it.

GQ: So there's still reason to have hope?

John: Of course there's still hope.

Â GQ: What's Newt's future in this race?

John: His future in this race is the same as his past—there is no way he could ever possibly have won the nomination and there's no way he will.

GQ: Should he drop out now?

John: I don't believe in giving advice to people who have no interest in hearing it. He has his own reasons for running, for staying in, or for dropping out. He should do whatever he wants.

GQ: You recently wrote that "The Romney campaign seems to be in the grip of a delusion that as time goes on Republicans will be forced to concede it is their patriotic duty to fall in line so that Barack Obama can be defeated. This is not how ornery individualists vote. They have to be wooed and won, not made implicit demands of." Do you think Romney's capable of giving them what they need?

John: Well, we'll see. Can he? Sure he can. I'm a great believer in the principle that electorates make rational choices based on the available evidence. Romney is running against various candidates who have been given a shot by the GOP electorate and found wanting. Now it appears it's only Romney and Santorum left on the field. Binary choice.

GQ: Can you imagine a brokered convention? Is it a possibility this year?

John: Listen, we've seen things from 2000 onward no one ever thought we'd see in politics, so who the hell knows?

GQ: I'm thinking of seeing The Artist tonight. You thought it was a stunt, albeit a pretty amazing one. Is there something better in theaters right now? Something I should see instead?

John: I had a better time at Mission Impossible 4, I have to confess, though it's nowhere near as good a movie...

Jean Dujardin is magnificent, however.

GQ: Yeah, he's great. I actually kinda like stunty, so I think I'll see it anyway.

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